NIMDTA is delighted to announce the launch of the 2018/2019 ADEPT NI Clinical Leadership Fellow Programme

The ADEPT Launch Open Evening will be held on Monday 8th January 2018 at NIMDTA Offices, Beechill House; 5pm-7pm. This event will provide interested trainees with an opportunity to meet with representatives of sponsoring organisations, and trainees who have already experienced similar excellent opportunities. To register for this event please click on the following link: ADEPT Open Evening 2018.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology national survey of trainees has shown that trainees rate the regional teaching by NIMDTA to be the joint top provided by deaneries across the UK. Attendance of NIMDTA trainees at their regional teaching was second highest in the UK.

Congratulations to Dr Mary Murnaghan (Head of School), Dr Sandra McNeill (Deputy Head of School), members of the NIMDTA O&G Training Committee, the Faculty who have taught on the courses and the NIMDTA Education Management team who support the organisation and delivery of the Regional Teaching Programme.

The Autumn 2017 Edition of the Royal Society of Psychiatry Insight Magazine has featured the success of Northern Ireland in attracting doctors into Psychiatry as a career.

In this article http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/RCPsych_Insight_Magazine_Autumn_2017.pdf Dr Damien Hughes, Head of NIMDTA School of Psychiatry explains how the Queen’s University of Belfast (QUB), the NIMDTA Foundation School and the NIMDTA School of Psychiatry have worked with the Royal College of Psychiatry in Northern Ireland and the five Health and Social Care Trusts in NI to de-stigmatise the specialty of psychiatry and to expose medical students and Foundation doctors to the specialty during their undergraduate and postgraduate attachments.

Recruitment into the specialty at Core level runs at 90-100% capacity in NI compared with 60-70% success rate in the rest of the UK.

Dr Hughes puts the success of the programme in attracting doctors into the specialty down to close collaboration with QUB, RCPsych and HSC Trusts, innovation and showcasing the specialty in a positive light.

FMLM is offering the opportunity for one of its Northern Ireland trainee members to join the Trainee Steering Group (TSG).

There has never been a more urgent need for junior doctors to step forward and make a difference. The FMLM Trainee Steering Group (TSG) supports and empowers trainees to develop skills in leadership and management for the benefit of patients. The TSG is formed of 8 regional trainee representatives, 3 central work stream leads and is chaired by FMLM’s Clinical fellow.

FMLM is therefore inviting its trainee members to apply for the role of TSG Regional Trainee Representative. This would be an opportunity for you to sit on the TSG for a 2-year period.

You will be encouraged and supported to develop innovative projects within your region, as well as contributing to the overall direction of the TSG, and will ultimately represent junior doctors for FMLM. There are also significant professional and personal opportunities. Examples include educational days at FMLM’s offices, webinars and regular opportunities to network with like-minded individuals.

The FMLM is committed to developing leadership and management among trainee doctors. Joining the TSG will give you the chance to have your say on how this is delivered.

The Northern Ireland Simulation and Human Factors Network Annual Autumn Conference was held on 20 October 2017. The theme for the conference was “Theory into practice: Using simulation and Human Factors training to improve patient safety”.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists assesses the quality of training delivered in 171 Obstetrics and Gynaecology training units across the UK each year using Training Evaluation Forms completed by trainees.

The College analyses training delivery in these units under three headings of Obstetric training, Gynaecology training and professional development.

The Antrim Area Hospital Obstetrics and Gynaecology unit in the Northern HSC Trust was within the top 10 performing units in each of these three categories out of the 171 units in the UK and was assessed to be the second best unit in the UK for Overall Performance.

The Ulster Hospital Obstetrics and Gynaecology unit in the South Eastern HSC Trust was assessed to be the fourth best unit in the UK for Overall Performance.

Awards to the top performing units are to be presented at the RCOG National Trainee Conference on Friday 17 November 2017 in Leeds

Congratulations to the colleagues in the Antrim Area Hospital and the Ulster Hospital on these fantastic achievements.

The Quality 2020 Strategy which was designed to protect and improve quality of health and social care in Northern Ireland was launched in 2011. The purpose of Quality 2020 was to create a strategic framework and plan of action that would protect and improve quality and therefore Patient Safety over a 10 year period.

The vision of Quality 2020 was for HSC “to be recognised internationally, but especially by the people of Northern Ireland, as a leader for excellence in health and social care.”

Quality 2020 has five Strategic Goals

Transforming the Culture

Strengthening the workforce

Measuring the improvement

Raising the standards

Integrating the care

Objective 4 of the Quality 2020 Strategy placed a requirement on each HSC organisation to produce a Quality Report every year. The aim of these Quality Reports is to increase accountability of the HSC organisations against the Duty of Quality that health and social care organisations are required by law to meet.

The Annual Quality Report 2016-2017 for NIMDTA is now available – please see below:

NIMDTA’s VALUED Trainee initiative is committed to recognising and applauding the achievements of trainees in various aspects of training, including research. NIMDTA in collaboration with the Ulster Medical Society (UMS) and Queens University Belfast (QUB) hosted it’s third annual “Research for Trainees; Opportunities, Presentations & Prizes” day in Belfast City Hospital Postgraduate Centre on 29 October 2017.

As part of their quality assurance work on medical education and training, the GMC visited all 5 HSC Trusts in NI, those responsible for and undertaking GP training as well as Queens University Medical School and NIMDTA between February and April 2017.

What the GMC said about the National Review in their Press Release

Medical students and doctors in training in Northern Ireland have told the GMC that their learning environment is a supportive and positive one, with senior colleagues playing a vital role in shaping the next generation of doctors.

Overall, inspectors found the standard of training experienced by doctors in Northern Ireland to be a ‘positive one’ and most felt ‘well supervised, supported and enjoyed the experience they gained on clinical placements’.

What the GMC said about their visit to NIMDTA

We felt that this was a positive visit. It was clear that NIMDTA is working well with implementing the Promoting Excellence standards. This was mapped into their guidance and documentation for education and training.

During their visit to NIMDTA, the GMC identified three areas of good practice, four areas that were working well and made two recommendations.

Areas of Good Practice:

Patient safety reports are being used for educational intervention and are shared amongst all levels and specialties of doctors in training.

The ADEPT programme is well organised, integrated into training and provides opportunity to gain good leadership skills. This was valued by doctors in training. The ADEPT fellows we met appreciated the Dean’s direct involvement and his accessibility

The lay representatives working with NIMDTA have considerable expertise, bringing a positive degree of scrutiny and externality to proceedings. They felt a valued part of the team and their feedback influences change.

Areas that were working well:

We recognised that NIMDTA has a culture of making people feel valued which ranged from doctors in training, future leaders (ADEPT fellows) and educators, particularly heads of schools.

There is a strong collaboration between NIMDTA and Queen’s University Belfast School of Medicine which provides a linear continuum of medical education. This relationship also allows positive influences on training through transfer of information.

There are areas where transitions between stages of training are being managed well. We heard of examples from undergraduate to foundation programme, ST2 to ST3 in obstetrics and gynaecology, and the ‘registrar ready’ programme in medicine.

We heard good feedback that the ARCP process was working well from doctors in training, training programme directors and lay representatives.

Recommendations:

There is insufficient understanding and awareness of equality and diversity amongst the learners and educators we met at NIMDTA and LEPs. NIMDTA should maximise the use of data to inform their E&D work.

NIMDTA should continue to work with LEPs to ensure that posts are aligned to the best training opportunities. This is to ensure service delivery is not prioritised over training, and doctors in training receive the experience and support they require, in posts they regard as attractive.

As you may be aware, the General Medical Council (GMC) has published its Review of Medical Education and Training in Northern Ireland 2016-17.

I very much welcome the overall GMC conclusion that “Doctors training experiences in Northern Ireland is positive”. GMC has also produced separate and more detailed reports for each HSC Trust and other relevant organisations. The reports have identified many areas that are working well and a small number of areas where improvements are required.

I understand that the Trusts and NIMDTA have all engaged positively with the review process and have submitted action plans, where appropriate, to address recommendations and requirements set by GMC. Implementation of these action plans will be monitored and followed-up through NIMTDA, and progress will be reported to GMC in due course.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to colleagues for their work and dedication.